Evaluation - Task One

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (I.e. music magazines)

Title

My magazine uses a title style very similar to that of ‘Classic Rock’, which covers a similar genre to mine. Due to the fact I wanted to make a magazine that covered the classic rock genre, but also stretched out to genres that would reach a younger market, I decided to go for a style that looked simple, yet also looked stylish at the same time (which is also a theme I kept in mind while designing a lot of my magazine. This is in line with the also simplistic ‘Classic Rock’ title which keeps a simplistic design, but is still eye catching. When looking for a way to position my title of ‘The Pick’, I found problems on positioning the ‘The’, due to the fact I felt if it was the same size and read in the same line as ‘Pick’ the title seemed less eye-catching, and actually looked a bit clumsy. I got the idea from ‘Classic Rock’ to move the ‘The’ into the space between the larger letters, and I think it has given my title a great effect. While choosing the colour to make the title, I noticed that in ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine, their strong red title contrasts well with a variety of colours and gives the magazine a better look, so I tried out a similar, strong shaded red with my title and I think it has worked greatly. The title itself is also short and catchy, and a pun, meaning both the pick of certain music, and a guitar pick, which many magazines use. 

Mise-en-scene of Images

The mise-en-scene of the images that I am using for my magazine was thought about greatly in the shooting process. One of the examples is that for my main images (front page and double page spread), I made sure I used a very clear background with only one colour that did not contrast with the model or anything else in the photo, making editing the photo a lot easier, as evidenced when I changed the background colour for both of those images in the final background. For a contents page photo where a model was using the piano, the setting that I used was one of the music rooms available at my sixth form, and I didn't change the background because I wanted at least two of my photos to have a real setting. For all of my photos I used good lighting, and I think it has given my photos a more professional quality to them, which reflects to those of existing music magazines. 

Costumes and props

Costumes was a big factor that I thought about with a lot of my images. For the image on the front cover, I wanted the two costumes to clash from the more formal look seen in the 'polaroid' photo of the model to the informal, casual look in the actual photo. Props were also thought about for this photo, but eventually I decided to digitally mix the 'polaroid photo' with the background photo for practicality purposes, but also because it allowed me to match the two together better (for example, matching shoulders, jacket openings). For my double page spread, I also thought about costumes heavily due to the late 70's setting I wanted to create for them. During my photo shoots for the contents page, I used a costume on a model that resembled something that would attract a younger audience, therefore trying to broaden my market. The only photo I used that uses a physical prop is one for my contents page, in which the model is by a piano.

People

Generally the models available to me were people of the same age as me in my Sixth Form. While this was great at establishing a younger audience which many music magazines do by using people their target audience can relate to, I felt by using younger models my magazine might alienate an older audience. When thinking about this, I originally decided to use an older model for at least one picture, but later decided against it so I could attempt some creativity through my double page spread image by creating an artist active in the late 70's / early 80's, and using a photo of him in his prime. Not only did this help me overcome my lack of older models, I thought it was a great way to bring together the idea that I wanted my magazine to cover older generations of rock and be mature, while appealing to teenagers, as the model used is relatable to the youth, but the artist I created is an artist older people would have heard of had he existed. I believe this challenges and develops conventions of real music magazines, who in trying to establish a fan base can very easily alienate everyone else. For example, NME and Kerrang appeal to teenagers, but have an informal, messy style which can alienate mature readers, and on the flip side Classic Rock and Rolling Stone may not feature articles relatable to youth, and thus alienate them.

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